On Tuesday, June 9th, there is a critical court hearing to determine whether the Coyotes can be relocated when they’re sold out of bankruptcy. The Make it Seven campaign needs to present the judge with evidence of bigger, stronger and deeper numbers of Hamilton backers.

Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of RIM is making an aggressive move to get a 32-year lease for Copps Coliseum, buy the Phoenix Coyotes and move them to Hamilton, but the city of Arizona is trying to block his slapshot.

The city of Glendale, Ariz., laid out its legal objections to the proposed sale of the Coyotes, saying a bankruptcy court judge shouldn’t consider the sale of the team “based on the false premise that (the winning bidders) are legally capable of relocating the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team.”

The Glendale believes that their bankruptcy doesn’t allow the Coyotes to break their “Non-Relocation Covenant” that prohibits them from relocating, and requires the team to play all of its home games at the arena for the full term of the 30-year lease.

“The city believes that it has the right under applicable law to prohibit any relocation of the Phoenix Coyotes,” say the city’s documents signed by lawyer Cathy Reece. “The city believes and therefore asserts that its right to enforce the Non-Relocation Covenant under applicable law shall survive these Chapter 11 cases, including any sale of the (team).”

Obviously Arizona is not keen on the idea of losing their hockey team which generates revenue for the city. Even though the team is bankrupt, if they relocate, the city loses any potential of saving the hockey team as a revenue stream.

Although Arizona is upset about the deal, Hamilton couldn’t be happier about a team relocation. The city is expecting a surge in local spending as well as visitors from the surrounding cities for big games and events. Balsillie signed a deal which was approved unanimously by the council, promising Balsillie a long-term lease if he secures the Phoenix Coyotes. The deal includes a $5 million injection of cash from Balsillie to help upgrade the 17,000-seat arena by 2010.

I just watched Jim Balsillie speak at WES 2009 and it’s always great to hear the man speak. He’s a brilliant public speaker and the company is safe in his hands.

If you’re on the consumer side of things, the keynotes here at WES may not be your thing but you’ll surely love to hear that Jim Dog is finally getting into the hockey space. The man who helped bring us the best smartphone on Earth has made his intentions known that a $212.5 million (US) offer was on the table to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes. One condition of the purchase was that Balsillie would relocate the franchise to an unspecified region in Southern Ontario.

The NHL is obviously trying to put the kibosh on the move but Canadians are going to rally behind him surely. Not only is BlackBerry a huge source of patriotism for Canadians, but sorry Americans, we just love hockey more than you. You have baseball, basketball and football; we have hockey.
“The current team ownership asked that I table an offer to purchase the Coyotes and significant discussions resulted in an offer that is in the best interests of the franchise, the NHL, and the great hockey fans of Canada and Southern Ontario,” Balsillie said in the release.

“I am excited to move closer to bringing an NHL franchise to what I believe is one of the best un-served hockey markets in the world, Southern Ontario. A market with devoted hockey fans, a rich hockey history, a growing and diversified economy and a population of more than 7 million people,” he said.

“This is a very clear and serious offer, and I’m excited and delighted to make this offer and try to bring a seventh team to Canada for hockey fans in an un-served market of Southern Ontario,” Balsillie told reporters.

Since the Coyotes have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Balsillie is jumping on the investment and he’ll hopefully be able to turn things around financially.

The website makeitseven.ca is helping Balsillie to move the team to Ontario and here at BlackBerryCool.com, we fully support them. Here is what they have to say:

It’s an exciting time for professional hockey in Southern Ontario and it has nothing to do with the playoffs. Jim Balsillie has made an offer to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes and relocate them to Southern Ontario. Jim stated, “I am excited to move closer to bringing an NHL franchise to what I believe is one of the best un-served hockey markets in the world”. Read the full release statement here.

We are building an exciting online community to help promote bringing Canada its seventh franchise. Sign up here for updates and alerts as we build this site and show the hockey world that we are ready!

Together, we can make it seven!

Show your support for Jim, makeitseven.ca and the NHL in general. Let’s do this!